


This Unshakeable Feeling

by orphan_account



Series: Tidings 'Verse - Merlin Advent 2011 [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Day 10, F/M, Kid Fic, M/M, Merlin Advent 2011
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-07
Updated: 2012-12-07
Packaged: 2017-11-20 14:02:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/586144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin tries to bring the comfort and joy of Christmas to the office - or, really, to Arthur.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Unshakeable Feeling

**Author's Note:**

> It should be noted that cheated with this 'verse shamelessly. Some of the prompts from the [2011 Merlin Advent](http://merlinadvent.livejournal.com/) fit easily into canon, and others really didn't, so I played with the theory that Merlin sometimes had dreams of the future. This is a reincarnation fic; in _Tidings of Comfort and Joy_ , Merlin dreams about his life in this particular incarnation. Once again, I have [jelazakazone](http://archiveofourown.org/users/jelazakazone) to thank for her help as my patient friend and beta.
> 
> This was written for Day 10 of the 2011 Merlin Advent, and the prompt was "Decorating  
>  _[Dragon-pulled sleigh, cup of tea, glitter!]_

“Merlin, what exactly are you doing?” The young man in question felt his cheeks burn at the sound of his best friend’s voice. He straightened up from where he had been bent over the desk, struggling with the little cable plug. He had thought that he would have a little more time before anyone else came into the office, and so he had ignored any slight embarrassment that having his bum wave in the air might induce as he attempted to plug in the little twinkling tree lights.  
  
“Decorating the office – Arthur can say he doesn’t care all he likes, I think he _wants_ to do something festive around here for Christmas.” Gwen had an amused glint in her soft brown eyes.  
  
“And you care about how Arthur feels because…?” Merlin made a face at her gentle prodding. He didn’t have to put up with this. His relationship with his boss was entirely professional. Except for the late-night phone calls, taking care of Arthur’s laundry, shuttling his daughter around when Arthur had to work late (always), straightening the man’s ties, and occasionally going to eat together after work – but that last was just practical. Arthur worked the longest hours of anybody in the office, striving to impress Uther, who was both his father _and_ the owner of the company, and Merlin didn’t want Arthur to have to eat alone.  
  
“Have you worked with the prat? I’m the one who has to deal with him whenever he’s in a snit, so I’d rather do as much as possible to keep him happy. Now are you going to help me or not?” Luckily, Gwen chose not to comment further on his relationship – what relationship? Therewas no relationship! – with his boss. He carefully ignored the little voice at the back of his mind reminding him of just how much effort he had put into planning the gifts he would give to Arthur as his Secret Santa.  
  
Going over to one of the little boxes Merlin had brought in that morning, Gwen pulled out some mistletoe and gave him a wicked grin.  
  
“I know just where to put this.” Merlin watched, aghast, as she hung the little plant just above Arthur’s desk. He whimpered, imagining what would happen later when he brought Arthur his morning cup of tea. And wasn’t little Elana coming into work with Arthur today? He was fairly certain that school had let out for the winter break yesterday, and Arthur refused to place his little girl in daycare or hire a nanny. Normally, she would go stay with Arthur’s sister, Morgana, but she was heavily pregnant and had no energy to deal with a rambunctious, accident-prone five-year-old.  
  
Eying the little drawing Elana had made for her daddy in her school’s art class, which showed what she had cheerfully informed Merlin was a dragon pulling a sleigh, he wondered what she would think of the mistletoe. Over the last year, the two of them had gotten to know each other quite well, since Merlin would often be the one to pick her up from school and drop her off at Morgana and Leon’s house or her equestrian lessons. He loved the little girl, and wanted her to feel comfortable around him. Would this be an issue? He should never have brought that stupid plant – he had more than enough decorations to forgo that particular holiday tradition.  
  
Shaking himself from his reverie, Merlin bent back over the desk as Gwen went around draping tinsel everywhere. He bit his lip. Almost. There… Yes! Merlin pulled back and looked around the office; everywhere he looked little lights blinked at him playfully, giving a gentle glow to the decorations which served to soften the normally austere appearance of the Pendragon architectural firm.  
  
Just then, the sound of little shoes _thud-thud-thud_ ding against the thin carpet of the office floor registered, and Merlin looked up to see Elana coming at him full-tilt. She slammed into his legs and wrapped her arms around them, staring up in childish delight. “Merlin, you’ve got glitter on your nose! Can I have some?”  
  
Merlin crouched down to put his arms about the little ball of energy and spoke into her ear, “You may have all the glitter you like, sweetheart. What do you want to do today, since you’re stuck here with all of us boring grownups?” A deeper, more masculine voice than he had been expecting responded to his query.  
  
“Boring? I’ll have you know that we are the _height_ of cool around here. We’ve even got twinkling lights now. _We_ are the farthest thing from boring.” Arthur _sounded_ like he usually did, but Merlin looked up into sea-blue eyes and saw all the wonder and gratitude that his boss could never verbalize.  
  
Looking back down at the little girl in his arms, he said, “Well, your father said it, so it _must_ be true. Now, I believe we were discussing what you would like to do in our very not-boring office today, right Princess?”  
  
“Are those ornaments covered in horses, Merlin? Can I put those on the tree?” The tree in question stood next to the water cooler, and was currently in want of ornamentation. The baubles Elana currently eyed were, in fact, decorated with horses; Merlin had chosen them especially for her, since she would be cooped up in the work place for the next few days, before everyone took Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off at Arthur’s insistence.  
  
“You certainly may. Which color of ornaments do you want to open first? The gold, or the red?”  
  
“Is that… Pendragon red?” Merlin colored slightly at the knowing quality in Arthur’s voice, but managed to meet his boss head on.  
  
“It is. It seemed like an appropriate color.”  
  
“Oh, it is, Merlin. In fact, it’s… perfect.” Arthur wasn’t looking at the ornaments. Staring back into the warm gaze of keen eyes, which took in everything about him -- glittery nose and all -- Merlin knew that there was no escaping this thing between them. They were lost.


End file.
